Journey to Love

Chapter 6

"Did you know that if you add two plus two together you get four and if you times two by two you also get four!" Nikola rambled to Layla. She seemed completely dumbstruck that adding and multiplying two by two got four. "And if I do that for any other number, they are not the same! Why is this multi-plynating or whatever-it's-called, so hard? Ugh" Nikola sighed. She took another bite of her sandwich, completely oblivious to Layla's lack of lunch.

"I'm not even sure how to multiply either" Layla mumbled. At least she wasn't the only one to find school hard. "Is Mrs Williams going to go through it again after lunch?"

Nikola shrugged her shoulders, staring out towards the playground where Layla seemed to always be looking. They were both sitting on the same rock step that Layla had sat at yesterday. Both seemingly relaxed with each others presence.

"So, did you want to go onto the playground?" Nikola questioned, turning her attention back to Layla. Layla glanced over at Nikola before shaking her head.

"You keep looking over at it, so I thought you really wanted to go play on it" Nikola looked confused by Laylas response.

"I'm not feeling too well today, maybe we can go on it another time?" Truth be told, Layla felt horrible. She'd woken up feeling absolutely refreshed, especially after yesterday's events. Layla was still feeling on a high after eating three meals in a single day. She still couldn't believe it herself. Though that had worn off shortly after she had woken up. She had made her way to the bathroom, accidentally walking in on her foster father, who, after berating her for using their luxuries, had slammed her head against the bathroom door before throwing her out into the hallway. Since then, her limbs had seemed to be weighing that little bit extra, her movements were a little bit more sluggish as it took more energy to move them without throwing up.

"Do you want me to take you to the nurse's office?" Nikola looked worriedly at Layla.

Layla shook her head again at Nikola's question. While she wanted to mention to Nikola that it was just a couple of brusies that was causing her some pain, Layla didn't want Nikola to think of her as naughty. She was bad enough to get hit, Layla would endure her punishments in silence.

When the siren rang across the school grounds, the children began to make their way back to their classrooms, lining up against the lockers, waiting for their teacher to let them in. Layla stood at the back of the line, something she always did. Standing at the front of the line, caused Layla to panic when it was time to go inside. Was she moving too fast? Too slow? And standing in the middle of the line made her feel like she was stuck in a small space. And small spaces scared her, it made it feel as though the walls were closing in on her. That she didnt have the space to move, so Layla stood at the end of the line with Nikola who didn't mind being one of the last to enter their classroom.

When the final bell rang indicating home time, Layla handed in her work to Mrs Williams before rushing out of the door, wanting to make it home with enough time to spare for her to make dinner and clean up any mess that might be decorating the house.

What Layla didn't notice was that as soon as she left the classroom, Mrs Anita Williams, her teacher, picked up her worksheet, running a quick eye over the activities they were doing that afternoon. Mrs Williams let out a long sigh as she noticed that the paper was filled with drawings.

Anita had gone around and asked each of the students if they were okay, had made sure they knew what they were doing, yet Layla seemed to deny any assistance for Anita to help her. Anita decided to start making some steps in advance, as no child in her care was going to fall behind because that would lead to further difficulties as Layla grew older.

.................

Layla had just placed the second plate of steak and potatoes on the table when  the front door slammed open. It was three past seven, which meant they were 3 minutes late, but for Layla, it was a stroke of luck. That extra three minutes gave her enough time to set the table to her foster parents liking.